In a new report, the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA) warns of the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. The pesticide is suspected of harming unborn children. In addition, it has not been clarified whether it can damage the genetic material. The spokeswoman for the EU Commission, Anca Păduraru, told the TAZ that the Commission is proposing to the member states not to extend the approval of the substance. The US agricultural chemicals group Corveta rejected the allegations against the report. Chlorpyrifos has been better studied than any other active substance, as spokesman Józef Máté told the TAZ.
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Pesticide found in fruit despite ban
The use of the pesticide has been banned in Germany since 2015, but permitted in 20 other EU countries. Despite the ban, the Federal Office for Consumer Protection found chlorpyrifos in imported fruit such as oranges and grapefruit in 2017.
Actually, the EU-wide approval from 2005 would have expired in 2016, but the authorities had not decided on an extension in time, so the approval was provisional. This is the third time this has happened. The last extension expires in January 2020.
Inaccurate approval procedures
In 2005, a committee of the European Commission classified chlorpyrifos as safe and allowed the substance. However, the manufacturer of the insecticide had commissioned the investigation into the safety of the substance. Studies showed even before the first approval that the substance affected the cerebellum in rats. Further studies followed between 2005 and 2016. According to EFSA, children exposed to chlorpyrifos in the womb have cognitive and behavioral deficits.
